BirthdayDeathday
by Your Iron Lung
Summary: It's his birthday, but he doesn't care. He just wishes Veser would leave it alone, and why the hell does it matter if he's heard of a song or seen so'n'so movie before? He just wants to work, not throw a party- And no, no, Hanna go away there is no party!


"So, let me get this straight; you've _never _listened to Free Bird?"

Conrad sighed for what seemed like the millionth time and gave Veser a look that indicated that this was, in fact, his millionth time denying that he had.

"No, Veser; I haven't."

"But you're like, 30! And you've _never _listened to Free Bird? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm just not into that kind of music." Conrad said in defense. "Southern rock isn't my style."

"It's not about the genre, man!" Veser exclaimed, continuing on in his tirade about the injustice of having never listened to Free Bird. "It's about the song! It's great and shit!"

"Informative."

Again Conrad sighed. The fact alone that he no longer breathed and _still _felt the need to sigh relayed just how annoyed he was with the situation. No, he'd never listened to Free Bird; no, he didn't like 'classic rock' or whatever label you'd stick with it; he wasn't that kind of guy, never mind the fact that his mother wouldn't allow him to listen to such trashy garbage. Veser was just reopening old annoyances he'd rather have left alone.

"Not listening to Free Bird is like…it's like…never having seen Wayne's World! You just can't live…death….like that!"

"I've never seen Wayne's World."

"WHAT."

If sighing was a professional sport, Conrad surely would have taken the gold. The evening had only just begun and Veser was already on his case about something that wasn't all that important. The stupid half-selkie hadn't even wished him a happy birthday yet, and here he was _scolding _him for not having listened to one silly song.

"I've never seen Wayne's World. I don't like Mike Myers."

"HOW CAN YOU-" Veser cut his sentence short with a frustrated growling noise. He opened his mouth to speak, shut it, then stuck out his hand and made demanding, grabbing motions. "Phone. Give it to me."

"Why?" Conrad narrowed his eyes and defensively put his hand into his pocket, clutching his precious iPhone close to his leg. He didn't trust Veser with electronics; not after the boy had dropped his DS into the toilet and tried to fish it out with the cord to his hair dryer.

What, no, of course that hair dryer wasn't his, but that didn't justify Veser using it inappropriately.

"Relax, I just want to call Hanna."

"Why Hanna? He doesn't even have a phone."

"His building does. Bro, just let me make a quick call. I swear I won't mess it up; c'mon, trust me."

Veser grinned in reassurance, but his sharp, shark-like teeth did nothing but instill more hesitance and reluctance toward Conrad loaning him his phone. The teen then rolled his eyes and let his grin disappear before reaching into Conrad's pocket and taking the device himself.

"H-hey!"

"Shutup and sit down before you shit yourself, geez." With another roll of his eyes, Veser turned his back on Conrad and began to dial a number, holding it to his ear when he heard the dial tone begin to sound. He waited in silence for a moment while Conrad sat flustered in his armchair before he spoke again. "Hey, Hanna! Yeah, 's me. You and that uh, green guy busy tonight? No? Shityeah. You still have Wayne's World on your laptop right? Bring it to Connie's as quick as you can! And bring some popcorn. And some beer. And-"

"Oh my God we are not having a party, Veser!" Conrad intervened, seething at the unfairness of it all. He didn't want visitors, least of all noisy ones when all he wanted to do was a decent night's worth of work.

"_A PARTY?" _Came Hanna's shrill reply, so loud that Veser had to hold the phone away from his ear to avoid hearing loss.

"No!" Conrad shouted, but it made no difference; Hanna had heard the word 'party' and was now all gung-ho for it.

"Yeah, sure, we're having a party; A Wayne's World slash Lynyrd Skynyrd fest…thing. Get Toni! I'm not having a party if there won't be some tits in it."

"We're not having _any _party." Conrad said through grit teeth. "This is not happening! I'm not letting anyone in; if anything, I'm throwing you out!"

Veser sneered and gave a little headshake, obviously unthreatened by Conrad's remark.

"You won't touch me; you're afraid of my shark cooties."

"OhmyGodIhateeveryone."

It didn't take long for most of the gang to arrive at Conrad's place, and even after they'd arrived the artistic vampire refused them entrance. It took a lot of convincing on the Zombie's part to let them all in. Conrad had fumed and stormed and had overall sulked as people invaded his apartment, and assigned himself to lurk in the shadows as Hanna and Veser began to fiddle with trying to plug the red-head's laptop into his tv.

The zombie, whom Hanna called Amadeus as they were trying to get in, watched on in silent guidance to make sure no one got electrocuted, which in all honesty didn't seem likely, but could happen when Hanna was involved.

Toni watched them for a moment before joining Conrad in leaning against the wall, pouting. She was about to speak when suddenly Free Bird began playing loudly from Hanna's computer. The two boys cheered with their success before returning to fiddling around with trying to get the video to show up on Connie's large screen.

Conrad massaged his temples as Toni giggled, amused with the way things were turning out.

"You know, Conrad, you've had to have lived under a rock to have never seen Wayne's World before."

"Don't remind me; I hear it enough from Veser."

"Ha, sorry. You don't look too thrilled about finally being enlightened to its existence."

"I can't say I'm excited, no. All I wanted to do today was sit around and work, and now my apartment is full of people and I won't be able to get anything done."

Toni scoffed and elbowed him playfully, but this only deepened Conrad's frown.

"Aw, lighten up Connie; you're supposed to relax on your birthday. At least Hanna didn't invite your doctor friend."

"Buh-wait, how did you know it was my birthday?" he asked, blinking in confusion before adding hastily: "And he's not my friend."

"Would you believe Veser thought this all up?" she grinned, but Conrad could only stare at her blankly in blatant disbelief. "I guess he knows what it's like to have your birthday neglected." She added sadly.

They both turned to stare at Veser's hunched over figure as he laughed and argued and tried to work the wires with Hanna. Conrad could only stare at them in silence as he realized that Toni was probably right.

"I think this is for him as much as it is for you, so try to enjoy yourself, huh? For both your sakes."

Toni clapped her hand over his shoulder and gave it a comforting shake before returning to where Hanna and Veser were now proudly displaying Wayne's World on Conrad's television. Something akin to a lesser form of guilt went rushing through him as a newly realized appreciation for the obnoxious teen blossomed.

Thinking about it, they really didn't have that different a home-life growing up. The both of them had had to endure some form of parental abuse as kids, whether it was psychological or physical, and he understood what Veser was trying to do now. He was trying to rekindle faith in a day that marked the celebration of their miserable existences with something that wouldn't leave them dreading it come the following year.

With a scowl, he realized that this was probably the best birthday his 27- er, 28- years had seen. Not that that was saying much, but for him to be caught up in any kind of party at all was a miracle all it's own.

Toni caught his eye and gestured with her head to join in on their impromptu celebration, and he sighed, resigned to his fate to enjoy himself.

Later, after the movie had been finished and the scattered popcorn from Hanna and Veser's over-enthusiasm had been cleaned and all the guests had left, Conrad approached his young roommate with a sigh and more than a little reluctance.

"So like," Veser began before Conrad could speak. "I know you wanted to work and shit all day, but that's so weak and especially on your birthday, so-"

"Shut up so I can thank you." Conrad ordered, and Veser quieted with a startled look. "So, thanks. But don't ever do that again."

Veser blinked, but then laughed, shaking his head and nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, sure, okay; next time Hanna can be the master planner."


End file.
